Michigan minimum wage, sick leave laws to start Friday under legal cloud
by Lindsay VanHulle (Bridge) Michigan’s minimum wage will rise to $9.45 per hour on Friday, the same day new state requirements for employers to offer paid sick leave also take effect. Yet as the new, if scaled back, laws that raise the minimum wage and require paid sick time take effect this week, it’s still unclear if they’re constitutional. […]
Study: More Michiganders struggle to afford basic needs
by Lindsay VanHulle (Bridge) More Michiganders, especially seniors, are struggling to afford basic needs, from food and housing to child care and transportation. That’s the conclusion of a new report from the Michigan Association of United Ways, released Wednesday, that aims to identify the barriers the working poor — which the group identifies as ALICE, for […]
Rich-poor achievement gap won’t budge. Is investing in teachers an answer?
by Ron French, Mike Wilkinson (Bridge) Despite decades of efforts, the achievement gap between rich and poor students hasn’t budged in the United States for a half century, or in Michigan since at least 2000. That’s the sobering finding of a national study released this week examining test scores dating back to the 1970s, and a Bridge […]
Michigan landfills are a small source for PFAS in waterways, study says
by Jim Malewitz (Bridge) LANSING — A new report suggests toxins called PFAS are entering Michigan waterways from a surprising source: landfills. The report from the The Michigan Waste and Recycling Association underscores the prevalence of the hazardous chemicals used in everyday products and their danger to waters. But its authors caution that most PFAS in […]
How a typo revived a Michigan fish feud over hungry Yoopers and science
by Jim Malewitz (Bridge) Tony Demboski can’t think of a better breakfast than a few brook trout, rolled in flour, salt and pepper and fried alongside eggs and potatoes. “One of the finest-eating fishes there is,” said the 79-year-old resident of Quinnesec, a speck of a town outside of Iron Mountain in Michigan’s western Upper Peninsula. But […]
Michigan House approves records transparency for Legislature and Governor
by Riley Beggin (Bridge) In a unanimous vote, the Michigan House voted to pass most of a bipartisan package that would open the state Legislature and Governor’s office to public records requests — government access that people in 48 other states already enjoy. “We’re here to serve the public and people deserve to see what we’re doing […]
Proposed repeal of Michigan ‘pension tax’ prompts fairness debate
by Lindsay VanHulle (Bridge) Is it fair to tax some Michiganders’ retirement income and not others? Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and GOP lawmakers who control the budget process will have to contend with that question this spring as they negotiate whether Whitmer’s campaign promise to undo her Republican predecessor’s tax on some retirement income will be built […]
Whitmer’s plan to raise business tax a hard sell to Michigan Legislature
By Lindsay VanHulle (Bridge) Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration is proposing a tax hike on some Michigan companies to offset a tax break for some seniors on retirement income — in essence, reversing some of the tax policy signed into law by her Republican predecessor, Rick Snyder, in 2011. The new Democratic administration has said the change could […]
Tell us how YOU would fix Michigan’s roads
by Bridge Staff How would YOU fix Michigan’s roads? Every Michigander seemingly has an answer for this. Maybe you want lower weight limits on trucks, more durable road construction material, a different method for state funding, perhaps by instituting toll roads. Whatever you have to say, The Center for Michigan wants to hear it! REGISTER TODAY for […]
Where have all the babies gone? Michigan births lowest since 1944
by Ron French, Mike Wilkinson (Bridge) Ontonagon is a quiet little town, and it’s getting quieter. There are three funerals for every birth in this Lake Superior shore village of about 1,500 and the surrounding county of the same name. The number of children birth through age 9 in the western Upper Peninsula county plummeted […]
